December 19, 2007 - The Carthage Town Council learned last week that the town may be in line to get an additional $350,800 in grant money for the town's water utility improvement project, which is slated to get underway next month.

Theresa Brading of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Office of Rural Development presented the good news during a special meeting on December 12. If this third grant is awarded, the town will have received a little more than $1.3 million in funds that don't have to be repaid to put toward the estimated $3.1 million needed for the project. The town previously received a $500,000 Community Focus Fund grant from the state’s Office of Community and Rural Affairs, and a $478,200 grant from the USDA’s Rural Development.

The council was also advised by an engineer working on the project that the total cost has been reduced by a little over $52,000. This reduction comes from changes made in some of the work that will done, such as using PVC piping instead of copper, changing the size of some water meters and making a parking lot at the water plant compacted stone instead of asphalt.

In late October, the council approved a 126-percent increase in water rates to help pay for the improvement project. At last week's meeting, an accountant working on the project advised the council that the rate increase, which was supposed to go into effect in December, could be a little less than what was approved in October - about five dollars less on the "average" monthly bill.

The Carthage Town Council has scheduled a special meeting for 11 a.m. on Friday, December 28, to deal with additional issues related to water project. That meeting will be held at Carthage Town Hall, 6 W. First St., and is open to the public.